ty of the Saviour. Christ has no bi ography. The zeal of God’s house has consumed all biographical notice of Him. We Can imagine Heaven said, “God be praised. The first Adam has been made a living soul and the second Adam a life-giving spirit.” When J. Hudson Taylor was fif teen, he was left alone one day in his home. Looking for something to read, he found a tract that appeared interesting. While reading it, he was struck with the sentence, “The fin ished work of Christ.” The familiar phrase, “I t is finished” occurred to him. “What is finished?” he asked himself. Immediately the answer came: a full and perfect atonement for sin. “If the whole work was fin ished, what is there left for me to do?” he reasoned. Then the truth flashed through his soul. There was nothing to do but accept the Saviour. This was the beginning of his great Christian life and missionary min istry. There’s a beautiful poem written by John W. Peterson: Jesus Said . . . “ IT IS FINISHED” John 19:30 The veil is rent; Lo! Jesus stands Before the throne of grace; And clouds of incense from His hands Fill all that glorious place. His precious blood is sprinkled there, Before and on the throne; And His own wounds in Heaven declare His work on earth is done. "Tis finished!' on the Cross He said, In agonies and blood; 'Tis finished! now He lives to plead Before the face of God. 'Tis finished! here our souls can rest. His work can never fail; By Him, our Sacrifice and Priest, We enter through the veil.
Within the holiest of all Cleansed by His precious blood, Before Thy throne Thy children fall And worship Thee, our God. Boldly our hearts and voice we raise, His Name, His blood, our plea; Assured our prayers and song of praise Ascend by Him to Thee. Word Seven by Dr. Harry Sturz A s with most of the other words from the cross, the seventh and last is found in but one of the Gos pels. This comes from Luke 23:46, where we read; “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” This final state ment by our Saviour was delivered with a shout. Some commentators hold that the loud cry Jesus uttered was prior to this seventh word so that His last statement was uttered in a calm and peaceful manner. The original, however, doesn’t verify this assumption. The first clause of Luke 23:46 may be literally rendered: “And, crying with a great (or loud) voice.” In these words from the cross, the Lord made three state ments in behalf of others: forgive ness toward His enemies (Luke 23: 34), care for his mother (John 19: 26, 27), and assurance to a believ ing thief (Luke 23:43). Three ad ditional words were more directly related to His own suffering: for saken by God (Matt. 27:46, Mark 15:34), an expression of thirst (John 19:28), and the statement that His work was finished (John 19:30). Je sus was very conscious that the time had arrived for Him to depart from this world. This was really a shout of victory, triumph and exhaltation. By the cross He had now spoiled 11
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